The Warriors have had some obvious issues all season. Their poor record on the road, for one. Their questionable bench production, for another. But Klay Thompson’s father, Mychal, has been keyed on a less-talked about one that reared it’s ugly head in Golden State’s loss to the Lakers on Sunday.
“I’ve been talking about this all year long, but nobody wants to listen to me up there in the Bay,” Thompson said. “You’ve got to get bigger. Last night, it was old-school basketball — the Lakers had this dominant guy [Anthony Davis] in the middle, and they used him. …
“Kevon Looney being the biggest guy for the Warriors could be a problem in the playoffs. Kevon plays his heart out, but sometimes the size can just wear you out in the paint, and if you’re going to beat the Warriors, you can’t outshoot them, so you’ve just got to go inside and try to beat them up in the paint.”
But wait a minute, didn’t the Warriors have this problem last year? Kevon Looney and Draymond Green were the team’s two centers in the playoffs and they still dealt with Nikola Jokic and Jaren Jackson en route to another NBA title.
This year ain’t last year according to Thompson.
“You can’t drive your car looking in the rearview mirror,” Thompson said. “You’ve got to look in the windshield. This year, it looks like size is important. Yeah, they got away with it last year, but this year, it’s going to be tough.
“The Warriors scrap and play their hearts out, but since they’re so small, Steve Kerr’s got to emphasize everybody’s got to have a foot in the paint when the shot goes up. … Because as Pat Riley once said, ‘No rebounds, no rings.’ That holds true to this day.”
Davis bullied the Warriors down low on Sunday, en route to 39 points. Golden State sent him to the line 13 times, where he made 10 free throws.
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